From one family to another: mill workers find new home at sheriff's office

Jan. 27—The closure of the Canton paper mill left hundreds of millworkers wondering what their future would now hold.

Workers not only lost a job, but the camaraderie of fellow millworkers.

"You settle into the mill life real quick," said former millworker Richard Gaddis. "It doesn't take long to become a close knit family in there. When you work on the machines, you have to watch each other's back because one little part will grab you and take you in."

Thankfully, Gaddis has now found a new home with the Haywood County Sheriff's Office. And there, just like at the mill, he's found a family.

"I went from one family right into another one," said Gaddis, who worked at the mill for 12 years and is now a detention officer.

Gaddis followed in the footsteps of his father, who worked at Little Champion in Waynesville. The torch was passed quite literally from father to son: the week Gaddis started at the Canton mill also marked his father's retirement.

Leaving the mill

Gaddis isn't alone. Four other former millworkers have moved from the mill to the sheriff's office, departing from their mill families in the process.

Among them is Deputy Bryce Stasney. Despite the pay cut, he likes his new job more than the mill.

"I'm really enjoying it," Stasney said. "For the first time in a long time, I'm excited to come to work. I'm excited to put this uniform on. I'm proud of it."

Serendipitously, Stasney ran into Sheriff Bill Wilke a couple of weeks before the mill closure announcement. The two talked and bonded over their military backgrounds. Eventually, Wilke asked Stasney to come work for him.

"It was funny," Stasney said. "I said 'I don't know. That pay cut would hurt a little bit.' Sure enough, two weeks later was when they announced they were closing it. I had to call him up and say 'Hey boss. You still got that job for me? I think I'll take you up on it now.'"

Although Stasney's not originally from here, he quickly found his home in Haywood County — and at the mill.

"I've always joked that I met a Haywood County woman and she drug me up the mountain. I didn't have the roots that a lot of those guys did," Stasney said. But, "I got brought under their wing and it felt like family. It definitely still hurt."

Deputy Matthew Browning compared the exit from the mill to graduating high school. It didn't hurt a lot to begin with, but as time rolled on, it got tougher being away from the guys he had spent close to a decade working alongside.

"There in the woodyard, we had a pretty tight knit crew," said Browning, who worked at the mill eight years. "That was probably the hardest part — leaving all them."

Browning would get nostalgic when driving past the mill.

"It was a little hurtful. When it went dead silent, a little piece went right with it," Browning said.

But he likes where he's landed.

"Honestly, I look forward to coming to work everyday," Browning said of his new job at the sheriff's office. "It's a job that I can honestly say you're going to learn something everyday. I like that aspect of it. It's a job that you have to be a jack of all trades in and I really like that."

Both Steve Brown and Brentley Radder, who have also gotten jobs as detention officers, went through the same emotional upheaval.

"It was a little sickening," said Brown, a millworker of 17 years.

Brown never imagined he'd ever be back in the job market again. Radder was also at a loss.

"It hurt. I didn't know what to think" Radder said. "It's put so many kids through college and supported so many families throughout the years. It's so important to the community."

A new landing spot

For all five guys, the path to their new careers with the sheriff's office were paved in different ways.

In Stasney's case, though the chance run in with Wilke sealed the deal, he'd always wanted to work in law enforcement, even taking ride-alongs with some agencies. While he has had careers in just about every field — from the Army and the mill to a NASCAR Xfinity Series pit crew — nowhere ever felt right until he joined the sheriff's office.

Meanwhile, Brown found the gig through a neighbor who told him the sheriff's office was looking for new hires. He said he didn't want to leave Haywood County for work.

"It's a whole lot different than what I was doing," he said. "It's a little more physical here as far as walking — lots of steps."

While he did say he is enjoying his new position, part of him still longs for the old days.

"I miss the mill," Brown said. "I miss the paycheck. You were going to take a pay cut no matter where you went."

Radder wanted to work in law enforcement after the mill, but he wasn't sure where to start. One day, while working just down the road from the sheriff's office, Radder got a visit from an old friend — Gaddis.

"I was working at Clyde's Restaurant and he stopped in one day and was like 'Come on down to the detention center,'" Radder said.

The transition from the mill to the detention center has been relatively seamless for Radder.

"The shift difference is nothing because we work the same shift," he said. "Learning how to interact with the inmates has been challenging, but it's also been rewarding."

Making connections

For Browning, his connection to joining the sheriff's office was through Lt. Doug Carver. When growing up, Browning's parents worked at Broyhill Children's Home in Clyde. Carver used to walk his K-9 around the cottages and interacted with the kids — and it made an impression on Browning.

"It had always been there in the back of my mind to possibly do that one day," Browning said.

Browning finally got his opportunity following the mill's closure.

"It's been a huge learning curve, moreso because I've always had that blue collar background — digging ditches and running equipment," Browning said. "Now, we're out here protecting and serving."

Browning is a volunteer with the Fine's Creek Fire Department and has a bit of the first responder background, easing the learning curve a bit.

Gaddis had a connection with the department through knowing Carver as well.

"I've known Doug for a long time. We went to high school together, and part of his family is married to part of my family, so one way or another, we're connecting," Gaddis said.

He ran into Carver at a job fair where the lieutenant told him he had a job for him.

But Gaddis had another job he was interested in at the time, and put the sheriff's office on the back burner.

"The next time I walked in there and seen him he said 'You didn't call me,'" Gaddis said. "I said 'You know, I think I'm gonna call you.'"

He scheduled a time to come visit the jail and that was that.

"I dropped everything else and I only put one application in when I left — and that was here," he said.

Gaddis said the job isn't too labor intensive. The most difficult part is having to deal with people in unpleasant situations, "but other than that I've done a whole lot worse in my life."

"I'm off of a forklift and walking around, so that's a big help," Gaddis said. "As far as the rest of it, I'm on the exact same shift with the exact same hours that I was working at the mill. I worked over 10 years on that shift, so I'm used to it. It's been seamless. I took about four weeks off and started working again."